Johnson takes it on the chin

Yeovil boss Gary Johnson admitted his side got what they deserved after surrendering their nine-match unbeaten run with a 2-0 defeat at struggling Colchester.

The Glovers' promotion hopes suffered a blow after goals from Billy Clifford and Freddie Sears gave the U's a surprise win.

Johnson said: "I don't think we deserved anything from the game. We didn't really show any of the innovation we've shown in our good run. Colchester got into our faces and shut us down early and when they went ahead, it was more power to their elbow at that point.

"It gave them the strength to keep going and although we huffed and puffed, we didn't get anywhere. It was a long way for our supporters to come and we didn't really give them anything.

"We've still got a lot more points than Colchester have and we have to quickly realise that we're still up there challenging. But it was a poor performance and you have to hold your hands up.

"There was nothing out there that we could hang our hat on and we gave their goalkeeper Sam Walker a comfortable night."

Colchester manager Joe Dunne was delighted with his team's display after they bounced back from Saturday's 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Tranmere. Dunne said: "To a man, we were excellent. Based on what happened against Tranmere, it was probably one of the best performances we've had.

"We had a great reaction from the players and we need to show more of that now to get out of where we are, because that's the kind of performance it's going to take.

"It's not going to work all the time, but when it does it looks good and it was needed. There were a lot of good performances and I just felt that by hook or by crook, we were going to keep a clean sheet.

"We threw bodies in front of things, we headed and we tackled and that's what it takes when you are where we are in the league. We also had the quality when we needed it, but the main focus was to get the result and my players conducted themselves in a fantastic way."